9 READING AND INTERPRETING MAPS

for errors and updates, get in touch with

Ismail Wadembere (Tel: 256 77 2472922, e-mail: wadembere@gmail.com)

9.1 Introduction
It is important to know how to read and interpret a map, most of was covered under the different
sections - check sections map design, contour, map composition, and relief representation for
specific map reading and interpretation.

9.2 Reading a map

A map is a representation of all or part of the earth. A topographic map, also known as a topo
map, is a map which shows changes in elevation by using contour lines. Contour lines are
imaginary lines that join points of equal elevation on the surface of the land above or below a
reference surface such as average sea level. You can think of a contour line as a trail for a lazy
hiker who never wants to climb up or down. Instead, he just walks around the side of a hill at the
same elevation. Contour lines make it possible to show the height of mountains, depth of the
ocean bottom, and steepness of slopes on a topo map.

Interpreting the colored lines, areas, and other symbols is the first step in reading a map. The
first features usually noticed on a topographic map are the area features such as vegetation
(green), water (blue), information added during update (purple), and densely built-up areas (gray
or red). On the map above, notice that there is a large tract of forest, shown as green, on the left
hand side of the map. The right side of the map is primarily unforested---probably pasture and
lawns.

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Features are shown as points, lines, or areas, depending on their size and extent. For example,
individual houses may be shown as small black squares. You can see dozens of houses scattered
along the upper half of the map above. For larger buildings, the actual shapes are mapped---
notice the larger, variously shaped buildings on the upper right side of the map. In densely built-
up areas such as cities, most individual buildings are omitted and an area tint is shown. On some
maps, post offices, churches, city halls and other landmark buildings are shown within the tinted
area. You can tell that may of the buildings shown on the map above were built between when
the map was first drawn and when it was updated since they are shown in purple.

Many features are shown by lines that may be straight, curved, solid, dashed, dotted, or a
combination. The colors of the lines usually indicate similar kinds or classes of information:
brown is used for topographic contours; blue for lakes, streams, irrigation ditches, etc.; red for
land grids and important roads; black for other roads and trails, railroads, boundaries, etc.; and
purple for features that have been updated using aerial photography, but not field verified. The
red line in the upper half of the map in this section is a highway while there are several smaller
black roads elsewhere on the map.

Various point symbols are used to depict features such as buildings, campgrounds, springs, water
tanks, mines, survey control points, and wells. Names of places and features also are shown in a
color corresponding to the type of feature. Many features are identified by labels, such as
"Substation" or "Golf Course." Notice that the town of Jonesville is labelled on the map in this
section as is the Jonesville Campground. The highway, 58, is labelled in red since the highway
is red.

The scale is usually found at the bottom of a map. A typical scale is 1:24,000 meaning that
every inch on the map is equivalent to 24,000 inches on the ground. An arrow at the bottom of
the map points to magnetic north. The map shown in this section does not include a scale or an
arrow.

The picture on the left above is a three dimensional representation of the land shown in the topo
map to the right. The first step in reading a topo map is to determine which way is uphill. You
can do this by finding labelled index contours since the contour with the higher elevation is
always uphill of the contour with the lower elevation. For example, on the map below, you can
see that the 2400 index contour is near the top of the map while the 1800 index contour is nearer
the bottom of the map, so you can tell that the land goes downhill as you read it from the top to
the bottom.

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 Hilltops are easy to find
on topographic maps
because they are shown
as closed circles. A peak
is labelled on the map
above. Valleys, in
contrast, are usually
shown as Vs or Us with
the point of the V being
the upstream end. I have
labelled one valley on the
map above, but there are
several other small
valleys you should be
able to pick out. When
looking for valleys, be
sure to distinguish them
from ridges in which the
point of the U or V is at a
lower elevation than the
legs of the V.

Contours that are very

close together represent
steep slopes. Widely
spaced contours, or an
absence of contours,
means that the ground
slope is relatively level. On the map above, the contour lines are relatively close together,
showing that the hillside is relatively steep.

9.2.1 Basic Map Parts

This simple road direction map contains a lot of
information:
• North is marked in the upper-left corner so you
know which way this map relates to the world.
• The Scale is marked. One inch equals 5 miles, so
you can tell it is about 15 miles from Seattle to
Woodinville.
• Main roads are included so you can find the best
route direction between two locations.
• Roads are labeled so you know what to look for
when navigating.
• Bodies of water are colored blue.

So, you can see even a simple road map is packed

with good direction and navigation information. The
maps we use for hiking are even more packed with
details.

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9.3 Plotting Boundaries on the Topo Map

Let us assume my property is

located on the topo map
section shown below:

In order to plot my property

boundaries onto the topo
map, I have to go back to the
deed to find features which
might show up on the topo
map. The deed for my
property gave me the
following information:

Now you will want to find

these features on the topo map. You need to locate at least one corner of the property boundary
on the topo map so that you can draw on the rest of the boundary. I was able to locate the divide
of two hollows, the creek, and the foot of the hill, and place
the boundaries on my topo map as shown below:

Using the information on the topo map, you can add even
more features to your drawing. In this case, I added the
location of the creek and the road. You may be able to
add buildings, sinkholes, cliffs, and other features. You
should also add utility lines such as electricity, sewer,
water, telephone, cable tv, and fire protection – see figure
of the final drawing, including physical features

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9.4 Watersheds

A watershed is an area where all rainfall collects into a common location. The common
location could be a stream, a pond, a river, etc. How do we find the boundaries of the
watershed? Edges of a watershed are usually found in the highest areas around. There, water
falling as rain on one side of the mountain or hill runs down into one watershed while water
falling on the other side of the mountain or hill runs down into another watershed.

Finding watershed boundaries for a creek on a

topo map is as simple as finding the highest points
around the creek and connecting the dots.

Starting at the creek, go uphill in every direction

(except directly downstream) until you reach the
highest points. Sometimes the highest point
above the creek may be a peak, shown as a closed
circle. Other times, the highest point is a ridge,
shown as an elongated U- shape. In any case, on
the other side of these highest points, a new
watershed begins. Connect the highest points
around the creek with a line and you have drawn
in the watershed boundary.

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The first step in determining your construction site's watershed boundaries is to mark the
location of all of the wet and dry creeks around your construction site. For example, I've marked
the drainage patterns onto the topo map on the right as blue lines. (The topo map on the left is
the original, unmarked topo map.) The proposed construction site is shown as a red rectangle.

Next, you need to determine the watershed boundaries between the creeks as explained in the
last section. I have marked all of the watershed boundaries onto the map above as red lines.

Once your watershed boundaries are marked onto the map, it will become clear which creek or
creeks the water from your construction site will flow into. I have marked with an X the creek
and the location in the creek which water from the construction site will flow into.

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 The final step is to mark the lower boundaries of
the watershed. The X marks the lower boundary
of the construction site's watershed, so I have
marked the construction site's watershed
boundaries in orange.

9.5 Maps or Photos

The topo map on the right represents the land in the aerial photo on the left. Notice the buildings
and roads on the map can be seen in the photo. A navigation map is actually more useful than a
photograph since it can highlight important items and ignore clutter like trees and shadows.

9.5.1 Shaded Relief Maps

Adding shading to denote
shadows thrown by the sun and
colors to denote elevation
change, beautiful and somewhat
realistic maps can be created.
The example above shows a
high mountain in white in the
North East (upper-right) with
elevation dropping to a low, flat
plain in the South West (lower-
left). Mountains, ridges, cliffs,
canyons, and plateaus can all be

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identified. Shaded relief adds depth and interest to a map, but more is needed to make a map
truly useful to us hikers and explorers for navigating wild areas.

9.5.2 Contour Lines

Contour lines are extremely
important for outdoors people so
you know what to expect a mile
ahead on the trail. Contour lines
show the elevation changes of
the terrain. These are called
Topographic Maps because they
show the topography of the land.
In this example, the elevation at
the spot marked A is about 4400
feet above sea level as indicated
on the contour line close to it.
The elevation of B is a bit more
difficult to figure out, but if you look closely, you might figure out that it is about 4350 feet.
topographic maps.

What is the elevation of Mt. Passaconway? _______________

What is the elevation of Mt. Tripyramid? _______________
The closest Index contour line for both peaks is 3,000 feet. You can see another Index line of
2,000 feet. There are 4 Intermediate lines between 2000 and 3000 so each intermediate line
represents a 200 foot change in elevation. Counting up from 3,000 feet, there is 3200, 3400,
3600, 3800, and the top line is 4000 (actually the next index line). So, both peaks are over 4000
feet and it looks like Mt. Tripyramid is possibly almost 4200 feet high.

This example of a very simple topographic map shows many common features. Keep your eyes
open to see these features on other maps and you will start to understand how a topo map works.

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Even without elevation numbers, clues that #1 is a hill include streams converging away from
the hilltop, contour lines pointing sharply towards the hilltop (indicating draws), contour lines
pointing widely away from the hilltop (indicating rounded ridges).

Using contour lines, you can tell a lot about the terrain, including steepness, ruggedness, and
ground cover. On the image above, look at point A. There are no contour lines around this
location so it is relatively flat here and a good place for a campground by the lake. You can tell
from the elevation listed at marker 3095 that the campground is at 10155 feet.

You can also tell the elevation change between each contour line by looking at the Index lines.
Notice that the Index line near point B is labeled 11600 feet and the one due north of it is labeled
10400 feet - that is a difference of 1200 feet. Between these two Index lines are two more Index
lines so each index line represents a change in 400 feet of elevation - 10400, 10800, 11200, and
11600. Count the lines between two index lines and you should see there are 4 lines which cause
the 400 feet between the two index lines to be divided into 5 intervals, each one being 80 feet in
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elevation. So, now we know that on this map every contour line represents 80 feet of elevation
change.

If you follow a single contour line, your elevation remains constant. For example, starting at
point X and following the Index line to the NorthEast, around, and down South to point Y, you
would stay at about 10,800 feet. When you cross contour lines, you are either hiking up or
down. Look at the two routes to get to the peak at point B - the red route and the blue route. Each
path reaches the top, but the blue route is three times as long as the red route. That means it
covers more distance to gain the same elevation so it is a more gradual slope - and probably an
easier hike. Going up the red route may require a lot of scrambling and hard work.

Using the map above, pretend you are camped at the Grandview Campground but you heard
there is great fishing in Willow Creek at point C over the mountain to the SouthEast. How could
you get there? Well, a straight line to the SouthEast would be shortest on the map, but would
include a climb of over 1500 feet! Instead, heading East from camp and circling the north side of
the mountain will result in a longer distance covered but only about 325 feet in elevation! That
may be a much better hike. One other thing to take into consideration. Notice that the ground is
colored green up to about the 10,800 foot index line. The white area above that is open ground
while the green area is forested. This can be good or bad. The forest can offer shade and
coolness, but on the other hand it may be thick and difficult to navigate.

9.6 Creating Topographic Profiles

A very useful exercise for understanding what topographic maps represent is the construction of
a topographic profile. A topographic profile is a cross-sectional view along a line drawn through
a portion of a topographic map. In other words, if you could slice through a portion of the earth,
pull away one half, and look at it from the side, the surface would be a topographic profile. Not
only does constructing a topographic profile aid in understanding topographic maps, it is very
useful for geologists when analyzing numerous problems.

To construct a topographic profile, you must first decide on a line that is of interest to you. This
could be an area where you want to go for a hike and want to know how steep to expect it to be,
a line that shows the maximum relief (relief is the difference in elevation between the highest
and lowest points) in the map area, or any other area in which you are interested. Once you have
determined where you want to draw your profile, use the following guidelines to construct your
profile.

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 i. Pencil the line of your interest in lightly on your map, or you can put mylar over the map
and draw on it if you don't wish to mark your map. **If you use mylar, it may be a good
idea to mark the corners of the map on the mylar so you can reorient the mylar on the
map later if necessary.**

ii. Place a blank piece of paper along the line you have drawn. You may want to tape the
paper to the map using drafting tape to keep them from moving relative to one another
(don’t use any other kind of tape unless you don’t mind taking some of the map off with
the tape later).

iii. On both the blank paper and the map (or mylar), mark clearly the starting and ending
points of your line of section. Below these marks, write down the elevation of the starting
and ending points of your section.

iv. Make a tic mark wherever the paper crosses a contour line on the map, making larger tics
for the index contours and smaller tics for the intermediate contours. Write the elevation
of the index contours below their tics on your paper…you might want to start off writing
the elevation of the intermediate contours as well to avoid confusion, but it will soon
become tedious. Make a note of the highest and lowest points on the profile for use later.
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 Be sure to keep track of the number of intermediate contours between the major contours;
if there are more than four intermediate contours it means that there has been a change in
slope and you need to check to see if you crossed a hill or a valley.

v. Once you are certain you have all of the appropriate tic marks and elevations, remove
your paper from the map. Get a piece of graph paper that is at least as long as your line of
section (you can piece them together if you have to, but make sure all the grids line up).
If you are using a map with a scale of 1:24,000 you will want to use graph paper that has
one inch grids to make your life much easier (because at a scale of 1:24,000, one inch on
the paper is equal to 2000 feet). Place your paper with the tic marks on the graph paper
(once again, you may want to tape it down) and mark the starting and ending points of
your line of section on the graph paper.

vi. Draw vertical lines above your starting and ending points, these will be the boundaries of
your profile. Use the maximum and minimum elevations along your line of section to
determine how long to draw these lines. For example, if your minimum elevation is 4320
ft and your maximum elevation is 6280 ft, you will want your vertical line to be at least
two inches long. Remember that one inch equals 2000 feet on a 1:24,000 scale map. The
difference between 6280 feet and 4320 feet is less than 200 feet, so it would be possible
to draw your profile in just one inch. However, it is much easier to construct a profile if
your lowest elevation is a multiple of 2000, so you would want to start at 4000 feet and
go to 8000 feet (two inches).

vii. Beginning with your starting elevation, go directly above the tic mark on your paper and
make a small dot on the graph paper at the corresponding elevation (if your graph paper
has one inch squares divided into tenths, each smaller square will represent 200 feet of
elevation change; each index contour should lie along a horizontal grid line). Make a
small dot for each tic mark on your paper.

viii. Connect the dots on the graph paper, and you have a topographic profile.

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In Summary- constructing a profile is rather easy and requires only a pencil, a ruler and a sheet
of squared paper.

1. Draw the profile line on the map.

2. Lay the sheet of squared paper along the line and mark where each contour line crosses
the profile line and indicate the value of the contour line.
3. Measure up a scaled distance corresponding to the elevation of each marked point and
put a point.
4. Connect all your points.

Using this method, and with the help of the following indications, construct a topographic profile
along A-B. (Scale: 1 : 25 000, Contour Interval: 10 m, Index Contour: each tenth contour line,
On your profile 100 m elevation = 1 cm)

Map for building the profile (Swisstopo)

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An example of constructing a profile

For topographic profiles, you must extrapolate the contour of the landscape (that is, whether it
goes up or down) when faced with repeating elevation contours.

A profile is appropriate when you are asked

to construct a cross-section or profile.
Topographic profiles are used to understand
what a topographic map is telling you in a
specific area (or, you can think about it like it
is giving you a "side view" of the landscape
along a specific line on the map). Because
maps are two-dimensional but represent three
dimensions (that is, topographic maps are flat
with lines that represent hills and valleys).
Professionals use exercises such as the ones
you will practice with below to help you (and
us) visualize a two dimensional cross-section
of what the land surface looks like (from the
side) - giving you a slice of the third
dimension. In other words, profiles help you
to understand what a topographic map is
telling us about hills and valleys along a
particular line.

9.7 Calculating a Slope

Determining the average slope of a hill using a topographic map is fairly simple. Slope can be
given in two different ways, a percent gradient or an angle of the slope. The initial steps to
calculating slope either way are the same.

• Decide on an area for which you want to calculate the slope (note, it should be an area
where the slope direction does not change; do not cross the top of a hill or the bottom of a
valley).
• Once you have decided on an area of interest, draw a straight line perpendicular to the
contours on the slope. For the most accuracy, start and end your line on, rather than
between, contours on the map.
• Measure the length of the line you drew and, using the scale of the map, convert that
distance to feet. (insert image with the line drawn on it, conversion calculation)
• Determine the total elevation change along the line you drew (subtract the elevation of
the lowest contour used from the elevation of the highest contour used). You do not need
to do any conversions on this measurement, as it is a real-world elevation change.

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To calculate a percent slope, simply divide the elevation change in feet by the distance of the line
you drew (after converting it to feet). Multiply the resulting number by 100 to get a percentage
value equal to the percent slope of the hill. If the value you calculate is, for example, 20, then
what this means is that for every 100 feet you cover in a horizontal direction, you will gain (or
lose) 20 feet in elevation.

To calculate the angle of the slope, divide the elevation change in feet by the distance of the line
you drew (after converting it to feet). This is the tangent value for the angle of the slope. Apply
an arctangent function to this value to obtain the angle of the slope (hit the ‘inv’ button and then
the ‘tan’ button on most scientific calculators to get the slope angle). The angle you calculated is
the angle between a horizontal plane and the surface of the hill.

Using the example above, a hill with a 20% slope is equivalent to an 11° slope.

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